Youth take 'fast' track to Hope

Dan Jacobs wasn't hungry -- at least not just yet. "I'm sure it will kick in once we start smelling the food though," he said. Just shy of completing a 24-hour food fast, Jacobs and some 20 members of Little Flower Catholic Church's senior high youth group spent the duration of their abstention this past weekend planning a meal for guests at Hope Rescue Mission. Now -- with only a few short hours to go -- the Kingdom Construction Co. (KCC) was in the church's kitchen. "I know what I'm doing," said Jeremy Tabisz, 16. "You're supposed to add this much." The South Bend resident continued to dump one shaker after another of fragrant herbs to a giant pot of tomato sauce as Bill Odell, Little Flower Catholic Church's youth director, blended the spicy concoction. "We're not just taking a meal to (Hope Rescue Mission), we're taking the best meal ever down to them," said Odell. In addition to pasta and four separate pasta toppings, last Saturday's dinner included two salads, bread and desserts for some 150 people. Only after all the guests at Hope Rescue Mission had been served by the KCC participants would the youth then break their fast and enjoy the fruits of their labor on Saturday evening. "These kids go at 110-percent," said Odell. "They work very unselfishly." Odell would know -- he's led the annual fast for some six years. "This is probably the most important event we have all year, second only to our summer mission trip," said Odell. "It's a great experience because we don't just sit around and talk." This year, KCC participants began their fast by serving a soup supper -- a Lenten tradition at Little Flower Catholic Church -- to the parish on Friday evening. Funds generated from the meal where then used to help purchase the groceries used to feed guests of Hope Rescue Mission. While aspects about the fast do change from year to year, the late-night run to Meijer on Grape Road was tradition. "We do get a lot of curious looks though," said Joe Trethewey, 15. On Saturday, the youths also visited Martin's Super Market for an exercise in finances. Divided into teams, each group had to budget a hypothetical weekly menu according to three different scenarios. "I was on a team that was part of a middle class family," said Colleen Barrett, 16. "We had $200 to spend on groceries for a family of four." The task wasn't too difficult. "Pretty much all of us come from middle class families," said Barrett. Lauren Dollinger, 15, was given an unlimited weekly budget in the KCC's exercise. "We just looked for the most expensive stuff," said Dollinger, whose team spent an estimated $4,000 shopping for one week's worth of groceries, a picnic and dinner party. Emma Grauel, 16, imagined shopping for a week's worth of groceries on food stamps. "It was really hard," said Grauel. In addition to experiencing hunger, other fast activities also worked to explain why people are hungry, why people are poor and why people are fighting to survive, said Odell. "We've explored the relationships between hungry and its causes," said Odell. "It's about understanding world conditions." And, how to change those conditions for the better. "A lot of our emphasis is also on prayer," said Odell. "We don't just prayer for those who are hungry, but we ask for an open heart and an open mind." A quest for solidarity with the disadvantaged, that began with one noodle at a time for this party of tired and hungry youth at Little Flower Catholic Church.